Canister filter systems with fluid separator filters are used on equipment with internal combustion engines, such as construction equipment, mining equipment, and other types of industrial machinery. One such filter system is a fuel-water separator (FWS), which may filter water (that may be detrimental to the operation of an internal combustion engine) from fuel to be used by the internal combustion engine. A FWS may include a FWS bowl that may accumulate water that has been filtered from the fuel. In some cases, the FWS bowl may also collect some amount of fuel or contaminants (e.g., dirt, water, ash, metallic particles, other harmful debris).
An operator may need to drain the FWS bowl so that the water does not reach a level at which the water enters the internal combustion engine. To this end, many FWS bowls are provided with a drain that allows the collected water to be drained. It is important, for environmental and regulatory reasons, that fuel not escape the FWS bowl while the water is drained. Some drains use a valve element that floats in water and does not float in fuel to automatically seal the drain once the water level has decreased to a level that places the valve element in a drain opening of the drain. This may be considered an automatic draining system.
One attempt to provide an automatic draining system to drain fluid (e.g., water) from a filter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,409,446 that issued to Abdalla on Apr. 2, 2013 (“the '446 patent”). In particular, the '446 patent discloses an automatic draining system for a filter. The automatic draining system includes a floating valve and a solenoid valve. The floating valve is housed within a compartment (e.g., a floating valve compartment) in fluid communication with a sump. Also, the floating valve has a density less than a first fluid and a density greater than a second fluid. The solenoid valve has an opening that is in fluid communication with the compartment and in fluid communication with filter media of the filter. When the first fluid reaches a certain level in the sump, the opening of the solenoid valve is opened which allows the first fluid to pass through the opening of the solenoid valve to the filter media until the floating valve seals the opening of the solenoid valve and prevents the second fluid from entering the filter media.
While the automatic draining system of the '446 patent may disclose a valve element that is in a floating position when a floating valve compartment is filled with the first fluid, allowing the first fluid to pass through the floating valve opening, and that is in a sealing position when the floating valve compartment is not filled with the first fluid, the valve element of the '446 patent may not reliably disengage from the floating valve opening after the first fluid is drained. For example, pressure from the fluid remaining in the floating valve compartment, pressure from the draining first fluid, and/or the like, may cause the valve element to remain in the floating valve opening even after the drain is closed. Thus, subsequent attempts to drain the filter may be hampered. The self-draining valve with release member of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.